Eye on Palin

I don't know if anyone actually reads my blog, but I thought I would post this in case someone does. Seems as though Discovery Communications may be giving Sarah Palin a new reality show about Alaska and the outdoors. There is a petition to stop the show as she has a great track record for destroying the wilderness rather than preserving it. Check it out if you feel so inclined:
http://action.defenders.org/eyeonpalin

One Month

In the last month so much has happened. My parents came for a long visit. We spent a week in Switzerland in the mountains visiting family, which was just amazing since Cat met up with us. And I can't even begin to tell you how great it was to be back in my mountains! The moment we got back to Brussels I moved into my new apartment. Yup that's right, I now have my own place! And it's soooo great.

I've officially been in my apartment for one week! My apartment is on the third and final floor of a maison d'maitre. The owners of the house (who are just the nicest!) occupy the downstairs floors and I have the last floor in the house. Just yesterday I received my compact Ikea furniture boxes so now my apartment is full of furniture waiting to be assembled. My apartment has a bedroom, full bath, little kitchen and a large living room. My windows overlook the city, garden and the nearby church. I don't need a clock in my living room because the church clock tower is within view so I use that. So cool, right?! It's so incredibly shabby chic I can't get over it! Once I start putting the furniture together and decorating a bit, I'll post some pics.

It's located in a great safe sought-after part of town: Etterbeek is the commune. Running I'm five minutes from the Etangs d'Ixelles and 15 minutes from Bois de La Cambre (forest) so I am now starting to run again in the woods, rather than just sidewalks. There is a huge grocery store two blocks away where I do all of my grocery shopping. Public transport is one block away. There's a little bar on the corner that I have yet to go to but it's always busy in the evenings! I'm close to a couple trendy areas too so there are lots of little bars and restos within walking distance. I'm really starting to settle and feel more at home with life in Brussels. Oh and did I mention that I'm within walking distance to the #1 and #2 frites stands in all of Brussels?! Life is good!

Only in Belgium

Always amusing and completely absurd snippets of Belgian news. It's like Belgium's version of the Onion, except everything is sadly true...enjoy.
http://thebulletin.typepad.com/onlyinbelgium/

Slacker!

Sorry for the lag time. I have been really adjusting to life in Brussels and I'm immensely loving it right now. I have a good group of friends and I've been introduced to some really cool areas in town. This is me and the girls at Ralph's, an expat bar in the EU area of town. Clearly we're not having any fun!

I just got back from 8 days in London. I was there for four days of conferences for work but then due to an extremely tragic train crash the rails were closed (and still are) so I had to wait a few days in London before heading back to Brussels. Oh yes, poor me! I just had to stay in London and hang out with Chloe and her friends. It was so awesome. I had never spent so much time in London and I had always been there to do touristy things, but to 'live' there for a week was amazing. I had such a different perspective on the city and now I really love London. We did some very fun things: saw Mama Mia (Chloe surprised me with a ticket), went to Richard Branson's old apartment which was turned into a restaurant and club (so fun - danced and drank the night away!), TopShop (need I say more!) and Whole Foods! I literally started crying when I walked in to Whole Foods. I had one of those 'I miss Boulder' pains. But then I ate my brown rice sushi and remembered that I was living in Europe!

Sunday Morning

Last night I went to a birthday/housewarming party of a new friend. I arrived with a couple of my girl friends and we had a blast. There was a whole different group of people there so I had fun getting to know another social circle. At midnight my friend and I left to head to a dance party in an old theatre downtown. Les Folies Bourgeoises was the name of the party and it was like nothing I have ever been to. We walked in and there were a couple thousand people all dressed up (and don't worry we were too!) and dancing to this really great DJ doing the euro-techno thing. I'm not a club kid, but I could get used to these kinds of parties! Everyone was dancing and just having a great time. I still don't have my euro dance moves down, but I'm working on it. There was a revolving dancefloor so we ended up dancing on the rotating platform above the crowd for most of the night. Seriously, it was one of my most fun nights so far in this town. I wish I had pictures from last night. We danced until the wee hours of the morning. Then I got up a few hours later to do a running race with my uncle. He did 20km, I did 10km - I'm not quite in 20km shape these days. We ran through the forest and to my surprise the course was rather hilly - who knew?! It felt so good to run outside on a challenging course! I needed it. I ran faster than I expected, which was surprising considering I had spent the entire evening on my feet dancing and talking to cute boys!

Crepe Day

February 2nd is some kind of religious holiday. I have no idea, but rituals stem from it like Groundhog Day and crepe making. In Belgium, you make crepes today to predict your luck for the rest of the year. You are supposed to hold the pan in your right hand, flick your wrist and do a flip with the crepe. If you can do a full flip of a crepe and catch it back in the pan then you will have good luck for the year. If you don't catch it, well, your year is doomed. I asked Granny if we were going to flip them (something I loved doing as a kid), but she said no it would be too messy. So instead I ate a couple crepes and wondered if it was going to be a good year or a bad year. 

Experience

Last week was rough for me. It started off with the stomach flu, followed by loads of work and not so sunny weather. I never really understood how much the weather influences your mood, but when you don't have 300 days of sunshine like in Boulder (it's more like 300 days of cloudy here), it gets a little, well, dark.
I went to an expat cocktail party on Thursday night. About 200 people showed up at this loft bar in Place du Chatelain - a cool little square with great shops, bars and restaurants. Everyone there was either a lawyer, a diplomat, a doctor, worked for the EU, Commission or Parliament. Made me wander a girl from Boulder was doing talking to all of the super highly educated people. That's what I'm learning. No one moves to Brussels on their own. Expats always move for a job and usually that job is of high ranking and high compensation, because as so many people have said, "Why would anyone move to Brussels on their own free will?" Normally they have no idea that I am one of the minority who has done just that so I smile and politely say, "For the life experience."

Meeting People

Now that I'm back in Brussels, it's time to meet people. The expat community here is huge, but to break into it I have to put myself out there, get out of my comfort zone and make an effort. This past week was my most fun week in Brussels so far. I started hip hop classes on Tuesday, took a yoga class on Wednesday, met with a new social group on Thursday, and went to a potluck party full of expats on Saturday. I did all of the above on my own, which I'm very proud of. I have met some really cool people over the last couple of days and I feel better about building a life here. The potluck was great. There were about 70 people who all had something in common: being new(ish) to Brussels and wanting to meet people. Everyone had to bring a dish representing their home country. There was everything from sushi to quiche to guacamole to apple pie (courtesy of yours truly). It was very low key so I was happy to just hang out and talk to people and of course get a little dancing in on the dance floor. I was only one of two Americans, but everyone communicated in English. Perfect! And I even went to a museum on Sunday with a new friend from Saturday.

Winter Break

My blog and I headed back to the States for an elongated winter break. The joy of working remotely is that you get to work from anywhere as long as the work gets done. So I was able to spend a lot of time in the States while still working. I am so very lucky to have that flexibility. I spent my time in NYC, MD and Boulder catching up with family and friends and of course stocking up on my favorite US products that I haven't been able to find here yet - almond butter anyone?! Time passed by so quickly and before I knew it I was on a plane back to Brussels. Now that I'm back in Brussels, I'm searching for an apartment (it's a really big project), getting my self settled again and looking forward to the New Year and what it will bring. And yes one of my New Years resolutions is to blog more frequently. A bientot!

Christmas Carols

The weather has turned cold here and the sky was actually spitting some flurries earlier. It made me smile. I'm working from my favorite coffee shop today and I've been getting a lot of work done, which is always nice. When it rains, it pours seems to be the name of the work game right now. I leave for the states on Friday so I'm trying to get things lined up before I go like packing all of my clothes for three weeks, remembering Christmas presents and trying not to forget my drivers license or passports. Tonight, G et G et moi are going to a holiday concert in an old abbeye/church. Check it out here. It's going to be Christmas carols performed by a choir. Nothing like getting into the holiday spirit. I have heard a lot about the abbeye - we walked around the grounds a couple of weeks ago - and the sound in the church is supposed to be, well, heavenly. 

Chasing Alain

Running just as fast as we can...

Yesterday I did an 11k race with my uncle, Alain. He's quite the runner and I try to hang whenever I can. The race was a trail run through the forest. It was really pretty but I was mostly focused on not tripping over tree stumps, horse poop and other runners. In a few areas we ran over cobblestone, which is much harder than running on sand. I was surprised. The forest was beautiful and the weather was chilly but clear. It felt great to run though the forest though I miss my mountains a whole lot. The trail is used for people, bikes and horses. At one point there was a girl on horse riding through the run course - not smart. The horse got spook right in front of me and started bucking with its hooves right at eye level. I pushed the guy next to me off of the trail and we ran as fast as we could away from the horse. Seriously, I saw my life flash before my eyes! I also had a chance to scope out all of the running clubs in Brussels. My goal for Jan 2010 is to join a running or tri club. Now that I feel a little more settled and comfortable with my French (I still get easily flustered when I can't explain things), I want to join a club to meet people. Here are the ever-so flattering race photos. Enjoy.

Pastries!

When I was in Paris, I took a pastry class with www.cooknwithclass.com - the class had 6 people and was all in English so I didn't miss out on anything. I have always wanted to learn the process of baking some of my most favorite bakery items and I figured why not do it in Paris. I learned how to make croissants, pain au chocolates, cinnamon rolls (french style), foccacia and a delicious cheese and onion bread. I never knew how labor intensive croissants were but I quickly found out what an art it was to make them. It takes about two days from start to finished to make croissants. You make the dough, then let it rest for 24 hours. Then you take that dough add in more ingredients (heaps of butter), fold the dough over and over again to give it layers (I never knew that's how the flaky layers were achieved) and then let that rest for another 24 hours. Then it's time to shape the dough and roll it into your favorite treats. Here's a couple pics of yours truly and some of our creations. 

The dough after we put in layers of butter and folded the dough over and over again.

Some of our creations ready for the oven.

Moi with cinnamon rolls ready for the oven.

Moi with the finished product. 

These didn't last very long! Delicious.

Mais oui, Paris!

Thanksgiving Feast French-style: Turkey, Stuffing and Frites!

View from roof at Galleries Lafayette

View from Jardin de Tuileries

Thanksgiving in Paris - so great! I took the train to Paris on Thanksgiving morning and in an hour and a half I was in Paris. I know, can we talk about how close it is?! I stayed in a little guest house in the Montmartre area. Perfect for just one person: http://www.paris-oasis.com. I met up with family at Chez L'Ami Louis for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a blast to be among family and to get to know everyone a little better.

Dinner was delicious. We started off with oysters and snails, then turkey and the most amazing stuffing I have ever had, and finished off with fruit and heaps of delicious delicacies. Never thought I'd say this but the French definitely know how to do Thanksgiving! After we were completely stuffed we went for a long walk. That's the great thing about Paris - walking. It's always fun to explore the little side streets and to see all parts of the city. We went to see Inglorious Bastards that evening before tucking in for a well deserved slumber.

I'm back!

I know it's been a little while since I last blogged - not good. Happy Thanksgiving! The quick update is that I just got back from four amazing days in Paris for Thanksgiving. I met up with family and had such a wonderful time with them. Seriously it was so much fun! More on the Paris trip later, but just wanted to insert a little entry. Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks in Brussels. Photos and entry from Paris coming soon.

L'Atomonium

Snack time!

Cathedrale Saint-Michel

Me on Grandpapa's bike

Born into Brothels

Last night I went to a screening of Born into Brothels put on by UNICEF, UNRIC and the European Commission to raise awareness of children's rights. The 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is coming up so they decided to show this movie and then talk about children's rights after the movie. I'd always wanted to see the movie and I figured since the event was going to be in English with a room full of English speaking people, I should go. So glad I did. Synopsis: a photographer gives a handful of cameras to kids from the brothels and tells them to take pictures of their daily lives and the story unfolds from there. It's an unbelievably powerful movie - tough to watch at times, but so eye-opening. Check out the site to learn more: http://kids-with-cameras.org/

Party Time Excellent!

On Friday I went to a surprise 30th birthday party for one of Coralie's (my cousin) friends. Anyone else turning 30 this year because this was the third 30th I've been to in the last month? The dinner was held at the birthday girl's sister-in-law's farmhouse and it was an absolute blast. We started off with delicious fruit drinks (all I heard was vodka, triple sec and mangos and I was sold), appetizers galore and a five course meal with a palette cleansing sorbet between courses. We had our first courses and then went into the garage to play a game called "Nails". Since this was a farmhouse there were huge logs in the garage, we decided to see who could hammer their nail into the wood in the fastest. Apparently when you are drinking and hammering away at nails, it's the funniest thing in the world and it seriously was a hoot and a holler. We were having so much fun that we didn't even start the main course until midnight. Shrimp drenched in garlic butter, homemade tater tots (got tots Quinn?) with prosciutto wrapped greenbeans...and two lasagna sized pans of tiramisu (one normal and the other made with speculoos). Seriously I'm getting the recipe and we're having speculoos tiramisu for Christmas. The menu rivaled that of Cat's and I'd love to see these two ladies do an Iron Chef face off because it would be great - and I'd love to eat it too. I didn't take any pictures of the food, but I can say that I'm still happily full from Friday :)

Fall in the City

The other day I took the wrong tram so I had to pass through Parc Josaphat to get to my destination. I thought it was so pretty with the leaves changing.

                                                                       

One Month Anniversary

I've officially been here one month! Yippee. I'm starting to feel settled in and my French is coming along. I'm still getting lost everyday, no matter where I'm going. I take the wrong metros, I think I'm walking down the right street only realize I've passed my destination, I still don't know street names and driving is so chaotic. Apparently when driving and riding a bike here the more aggressive you are the better. I'm working on it. It's so fun and great though. I'm off to explore the city on this rainy windy day. Maybe work on my wardrobe a little bit. Chloe's birthday party is this week so I know I have to get an outfit! I'm going to stop by a cooking school this afternoon to learn how to make jam (I've gotta start somewhere) and then I'm off to the theatre tonight. I tried to post pics this morning but can't get them off my GSM. Love!

Fat Lip

Yesterday I went to my first spinning class en francais not knowing what to expect. Besides this being an hour long class, I was the only one who showed up in cycling shorts (clearly I'm not in Boulder anymore) - everyone else was in running shorts or yoga pants (hoo-ha, I don't get that!). The music was that horrible euro-techno with incredibly meaningful lyrics in English such as: 'after the rain...sun.' As class started I realized instantly that I couldn't keep a straight face. Our instructor proceeded to cycle with his legs but moved his shoulders around just like Pat(ricia) would on the dance floor for 70's night. That's when I had to keep my laughter in check because he kept looking over at me with his ridiculous shoulder dancing and I was laughing so hard inside. I literally bit my lip the whole time. My absolute favorite part was when he decided to motivate the class by standing up on his bike and proceeded to gyrate and wave one arm around in the air just like cheesy Chippendale dancers do when they rip off their shirts. Man alive, you just can't make this stuff up.

Beer

This weekend there was the public viewing of  beer brewing at Cantillon in Brussels. It's a brewery that holds public viewings twice a year and I didn't want to miss it - mostly so that I could brag to Brian, my beer loving, home-brewing brother-in-law, about how cool it was. And really it was pretty cool. The brewery opened at 6:30am, but there was no way we were going to be there for the opening. Although Granny and I were out the door at 7am to take the first tour of the day at 8:30am, which was a tour in French and English. We started the tour by double fisting with coffee and croissants and finished the tour with cheers and beers. By 10am we had finished our first beers and were on to round two. Granny was such a trooper and I was going to make the most of my beer drinking before noon. What I learned:

Cantillon is the only brewery in the world that uses spontaneous fermentation for their beers.

Lambic tastes really bad, but Kriek is the way to go.

French speaking people get really annoyed when the tour guide switches to English so that the American girl can understand at least part of the tour.